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ALTGATE | THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012 Fear vs. Greed at Facebook When founders delay raising each round, they are typically hoping to achieve certain milestones that will raise the startup’s valuation. million, with a valuation of $10 million. Third round: Raise $7 million, with a valuation of $15 million. million, with a valuation of about $100 million. Noam Wasserman and myself. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012 #17 - Taneli Tikka Did you know he got 5 million euro investment on a 20 million pre-money valuation on his first company, just based on slideware? This week we talked to one of the most well known serial entrepreneurs in Finland - Taneli Tikka. He's been part of many startups, but also built some of his own companies and also bankrupted a few. tanelitikka. -
BOTH SIDES OF THE TABLE | WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012 It’s Morning in Venture Capital Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. This article originally ran on PEHub. If you prefer the super short version – I’ve summarized the post in the final section. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin! The Funding Problem. -
10 Concrete Steps to Assure Business Innovation Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Continuous innovation is required to survive in all businesses, beginning with a startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. Brands. This is an imperative. No risk, no innovation. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012 Atomico Buys 20% Of Klarna For €11 Million The deal was reportedly worth 100 million SEK (€11 million), increasing the valuation of Klarna by 23%. Klarna recently saw some of their ownership change hands. Atomico, led by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, has purchased a 20% stake of the Swedish online payments provider from previous equity holders.
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CROWDSPRING BLOG | TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012 Are Facebook Investors Playing Russian Roulette? That’s very healthy revenue, but significantly below the revenue needed to justify a 100 billion dollar valuation. While there’s some hope in mobile advertising (Facebook has so far not monetized mobile), that too doesn’t justify a $100 billion valuation. Both stocks have enjoyed strong growth this year. -
How to Get Acquired for Tons of Money So why are some companies acquired for eye-popping valuations while very similar ones never attract much interest? Some companies are bought for huge sums, while other similar ones never get much notice. How to get on the road to the big acquisition. Getting acquired for a huge price is the dream of virtually every start-up I see. -
GROWTHINK BLOG | MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012 Where does Facebook go from here? It is fine if it doesn't, but at the level of current valuation of the company, the assumption is that Facebook will be solving the kinds of problems that people would pay far more for than the very obvious, pressing, and actionable ones that Google search does. So yes, the Facebook IPO is greatly inspirational. So Facebook is great. -
After Facebook: 6 IPOs to Put on Your Radar Riding the coattails of Facebook's IPO, the company has expressed renewed interest in going public; Last week the company announced it planned to raise $150 million at a $1 billion valuation. Has Facebook reinvigorated the IPO market? Here are a few tech companies racing to go public--and what you should know about them. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2012 F-F-F-Friday Wrap Up The New York Times reports that Spotify is now raising money at a $4 Billion valuation. It's Friday! Here's what you've come to expect, a weekly rundown of news, events, and jobs. Top image is of Ikea adding apps to its new home theater system. It's Ikea's world, we're just living in it. Updated on Mondays. has hit 6 million users. Foodie.fm - Facebook Is Overvalued
That is the biggest IPO valuation ever by an American company. It The valuation is 28x revenue and 104x income. Before I go any further I want to give some kudos to Facebook. More than half the people in the United States use the social network. think the number something is like 900 million worldwide. And you have to give it to Zuck. -
Facebook Pulls Off Largest Tech IPO Ever Facebook is going public Friday, after raising $16 billion Thursday at a valuation of more than $104 billion. Ring the bells: It's a landmark day for Wall Street and Silicon Valley as the world's biggest social network becomes a public company. The American Dream is alive and well in Menlo Park. On the Web, data is money. Probably not. -
LEVERAGING IDEAS | THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2012 Drivers of Technology Valuation Multiples Social Media blackstone facebook linkedin valuationInteresting graphic from a write up by Blackstone on what is driving high p/e ratios for public technology companies. -
TAFFY WILLIAMS | WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012 Angel Education is Sometimes Required One common place to use a convertible note is when the valuation is difficult to define and agree on; e.g., at startup. The note allows the Angel to make an investment and gain the financial benefits associated with a future investment round by a professional investor that defines a company valuation. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012 Facebook Predictions: 6 Things to Know Now Back in early 2011, I predicted Facebook's $100 billion valuation. Facebook Will Not Disappear I want to make clear that as bearish as my predictions may be around valuation and expectation, I am equally confident that Facebook is not going to disappear any time soon. Here's what I think is coming next. The network effect—i.e., -
CHRIS DIXON | TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012 Facebook’s business model If they do that, the company is probably worth a lot more than the expected $100B IPO valuation. Startups usually succeed because of a single major product or business innovation. Google is unusual in that they succeeded because of two major innovations: their core search product, and their keyword advertising business model. startups -
GABRIEL WEINBERG | TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2012 Long-tail acquirers for medium exits There might be an exception with the large media companies but the reality of these places is that they a) can't pay and b) have become a lot more sophisticated about understanding valuation metrics (in some cases being more sophisticated than your typical VC). In a comment @antrod wrote the following. Update: insightful comments on HN. -
Put a Price on Anything: 5 Tips Figuring out valuation is tough. Valuations are always tough when there is no functioning market, and thus no comparable sales to point to. Valuation and negotiation are as much about the human element as they are about math," Marlin said. Who'd put a price tag on the White House? Try it with these tips. —but c'mon! -
Facebook’s Lobbying Operations “Built for Battle” So, what would your strategy be if you had an almost unlimited budget, an insane valuation, and a wildly popular but controversial product? The social media giant has a clever plan to make friends and influence people in the nation's capital. We dig inside the operation's five-point strategy. The prime objective? Its D.C. Bush's staff. -
The Key to Start-up Success? Be Boring Shares selling for $20 and up brought the company's valuation to almost $13 billion. You may not live for accounting or operations details. But ignoring them (ahem, Groupon) will put you in a world of hurt. As of last fall, Groupon had the biggest IPO by a U.S. Internet company since Google. Sad that good things seldom last forever. -
GROWTHOLOGY | SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012 On Facebook's Valuation and Future Outstanding overview by the Lex column in the Financial Times the other day. On the plus side, operating margins last year were astoundingly good, at 50 percent. On the other hand, some trends are not so great: revenue per user growth is slowing. . Entrepreneurs -
Selling Your Business? Gather Your Team of Experts An appraiser or valuation expert? Contact business appraisers or valuation specialists if your business is difficult to price. Once you have committed to selling your business, its time to bring in some experts to make sure you get the highest offers possible. Selling your business is one of those things you can't do alone. Step 2. -
Is There a Tech Bubble? We’ll Know If It Pops Zynga price] certainly doesn’t seem like a bubble valuation either. and that is impacting valuations across the board. Earlier today I posted disruption vs. revenue and the tech bubble on the gust.com blog. think both were special cases. But locking their wares behind pay walls might slow their growth and dampen their success. . -
Turntable.fm: Where Did Our Love Go? The whimsical site they released, where users posed as cats and bears and spacemen playing songs together in a chat room that resembled a rock club, attracted more than 360,000 users in three months, then $7 million in funding at a $37 million valuation. Last summer, Turntable.fm is Amazing." Then traffic started falling. They look tired. -
CHRIS DIXON | SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2012 Is it a tech bubble? You could certainly debate other public tech stock valuations (there are a number of companies that recently IPO’d that many reasonable people think are overvalued), but on a market-cap weighted average the tech sector is trading at a very reasonable 17 P/E. 5) No one can predict macro trends. startups -
GABRIEL WEINBERG | FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2012 Out of acqui-hire stage However, companies freshly out of the acqui-hire stage can be left with a lot of paths: Do you leverage your traction to ride power law dynamics and raise a ton of money at a super high valuation and go for the huge $1B+ exit? Do you raise a a medium amount of money at a low enough valuation to keep high $250M+ exits on the table ? -
READWRITESTART | THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 Good News! Angels Are Getting More Optimistic Angels have significantly increased their investment activity, and are committing more dollars resulting from higher valuations," says Jeffrey Sohl, director of the UNH Center for Venture Research at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. If you’re looking for angel investors, there’s good news afoot. billion, 12.1% from 2010. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 Where's Your Blind Spot? But when the team was trying to raise their A round of funding, they couldn’t get a valuation close to what they thought they deserved from top tier investors. That’s why they were getting the valuation discount--because they hadn’t been able to avoid this key risk. We all have blind spots. We all have blind spots. -
CHRIS DIXON | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 The risks of being a small investor in a private company 2) Issuing of massive option grant to management along with new financing at a below-market valuation. Company is doing well and is offered a Series B at a significantly higher valuation. With the passage of the JOBS act , it seems that many more Americans will soon be able to buy equity in private companies. Here are a few examples. -
CHARLIECRYSTLE.COM | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 The Un-Sexy Startup Will Be the New Sexy The sexy stuff--controversy, hot startups backed by celebrities, or hot startups backed by celebrity Angels, or startups screwing up badly in public with some lousy behavior, or some crazy valuations or crazy exits--that stuff draws a lot of people in. Fred posted about the noise today, as did Brad. But that's not my point. Now now, anyway. -
MARK BIRCH | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 LinkedIn Will Eventually Buy Quora There are reports of a $30-50 million Series B valued at $400 millon , which would be an appreciable jump from the initial $11 million round at a $86 million valuation over two years ago. Last month, I took a stab at projecting the long-term aspirations of the biggest Web 2.0 companies. However, that is idiotic. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012 Zuckerberg Has a Sugar Daddy. Do You? That was at a $15 billion valuation that will likely soon be worth $1.6 billion at the expected $100 billion valuation Facebook will have at its IPO. Even a 20-something billionaire could use a little help. He just got it from Microsoft--via a huge heap of AOL patents. billion. Seems strange, right? Maybe not. The better news? -
Should I invest my savings in this startup? Should I invest my $95k at a $1m valuation to bring my total stock allocation into the double-digits? This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. Bad bet. - What If Web And Mobile Apps Are Like TV Shows?
This concern or observation depending on where you sit has wide ranging implications for valuations, returns, and many other aspects of the startup economy. I was having lunch with a veteran of the entertainment and the video game business this past week. It was an interesting and wide ranging chat. Farmville to Cityville to something else. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012 Spotify Revenue Numbers Lower Than Expected, Still Focused On Growth Ek also said that Spotify has no need for more capital to follow their business plan, but he's learned it's good to raise money when you don't need it -- if you can get a good valuation. billion valuation. In total, the company is shooting for around €690 million in turnover this year. Our focus is entirely on growth. -
ONSTARTUPS | MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2012 Don't Make Raising Angel Funding Your Plan B This seems like a more attractive proposition to an angel investor and if it works out, there is a good probability that a larger VC raise will be done at a decent up round valuation. The following is a guest post by Chris Sheehan. Chris is a seed stage VC and angel investor at CommonAngels. When I hear this, I'm thinking: 1. -
Build a Billion-Dollar Business Gilt Groupe took only four years to take the fashionista crowd by storm, revolutionize both the fashion and e-commerce industries, attract five million members, and earn a $1 billion valuation. Do you have a billion-dollar idea? The founders of Gilt Groupe explain how they changed the rules of retail. We were all learning all the time. -
CROWDSPRING BLOG | SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2012 Small Biz and Startup Tips: 5 Ideas to Plan for Success(ion) While much of the literature on succession planning tends to be about long-term legal planning as well as the importance of valuation, buy/sell agreements, and tax and estate planning, my advice is that you first focus on what will happen tomorrow if you don’t have any plan already in place. The ” Throne, you say? Document. Train. -
BOTH SIDES OF THE TABLE | SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2012 Don’t Try to “Pull an Instagram.” Here’s Why … Did raising money at a $500 million valuation help secure the $1 billion deal? “it’s smart to use an impending investment valuation to drive a higher acquisition valuation” I would like to amend her statement slightly to read, “it’s smart to use an impending investment valuation to drive an higher acquisition.” -
START UP BLOG | THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2012 Tech Pop Quiz Does the NASDAQ have a higher or lower valuation now, than it did in the year 2000? Friday fun has been turned into a Tech Pop Quiz. So here is 20 questions on just that – all of which you could find very quickly on-line, but rather than cheat, why not answer them without checking and see how many you really know. Good Luck. -
START UP BLOG | THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2012 Tech Pop Quiz Does the NASDAQ have a higher or lower valuation now, than it did in the year 2000? Friday fun has been turned into a Tech Pop Quiz. So here is 20 questions on just that – all of which you could find very quickly on-line, but rather than cheat, why not answer them without checking and see how many you really know. Good Luck. -
READWRITESTART | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2012 8 Things Instagram Did Right Its valuation outstrips that of the 116-year-old New York Times. With its billion-dollar sale to Facebook, Instagram instantly became the latest poster child for startup success. In just 551 days, the photo-sharing mobile app zoomed from zero to 30 million-odd users, and 10 million U.S. visits by March 2012 , up 1000% since December 2011. -
THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG. | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2012 Five Thoughts About the Instagram Acquisition That didn't quite work out--while Zynga does represent over 10% of Facebook's revenue, Zynga continued to grew, went public at a multi-billion dollar valuation, and just bought a significant mobile foothold with OMGPOP. Price : If you're looking at the billion, you're looking at the wrong number. In other words, it was a no-brainer. -
CHRIS DIXON | TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012 Increasing velocity Two common discussions in the startup world right now are 1) the increasing speed at which new apps/websites can gain mass adoption (Instagram, Pinterest, OMGPOP’s Draw Something, etc), and 2) the rise in seed stage valuations. The increasing velocity has implications for the valuations of incumbent tech companies. Users -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012 Instagram: The Untold Origin Story By March, that number jumped 27 million, and rumors began swirling that the the company was planning on raising $50 million at a $500 million valuation. How do you make a billion dollars in two years? Here's a narrative look through the brief, hectic, (and lucky), 14 months of Kevin Systrom's life growing Instagram. That was March 2010. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012 Is Instagram Really Worth $1 Billion? Is Instagram, on its own, worth even the $500 million valuation that it got with a $50 million investment from VC firms Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Greylock Partners, and Benchmark Partners right before the Facebook purchase? The start-up may have pulled down a billion-dollar payday, but that doesn't mean it was worth it. With a B. -
JEFF HILIMIRE | TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012 My take on the Instagram Facebook acquisition So the question is, why did Zuck pay double the valuation for Instagram? Yesterday Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars. Last week, Instagram received funding that valued the company at $500 million. Mobile and photos. Instagram, like Path, is a mobile-only network. And Zuck, like many of us, knows that mobile is everything. -
Deal of the Year: Facebook Buys Instagram ” This news comes as somewhat of a shock, as it was reported in March that Instagram would raise $40 million in a venture round—putting the company at a $500 million valuation. The scrappy San Francisco-based photo-sharing app company had been rumored to be accepting a $50 million round, but now it's been acquired for $1 billion. -
CROWDSPRING BLOG | SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012 10 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Academics For instance, the use of comparable company data to make projections or imply valuation is one way entrepreneurs can leverage historical fact to help arrive at conclusions. Entrepreneurs, by definition, take an idea or a concept and strive to make that idea into a operating business. Academics research throughly. Academics are rational. -
GABRIEL WEINBERG | FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 Are you an indie, angel or venture company? I've been seeing some really high valuations floating around. Don't get me wrong -- there is nothing inherently wrong with high valuations if everyone is aligned in exit expectations. simplified way to look at this 10x return on exit from the founder perspective is would I sell my startup for less than 10x this current valuation? -
BERKONOMICS | FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 Think ahead, if you will need more money later. Is the price paid for shares by previous investors excessive, creating a post-money valuation too high for the actual value of the company? No one wants to face this, but the need for money and the possible overpricing of the first rounds may have created an unsustainable valuation. Email readers, continue here.] -
TAFFY WILLIAMS | FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 Win Twice Maybe Even Thrice Enthusiasm from the release led investors or customersto bid up the company valuations or dramatically increase sales. Negotiatingcan have positive and negative aspects. Discussions often focus on what each party gets and whether they believeit is enough. The abilityto recognize whether discussions are moving toward an impasse is not tooeasy. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012 Danish Startup Community Unified Against The Entrepreneur Tax The structure of the Entrepreneur Tax makes individuals personally liable to pay capital gains tax from the increased valuation of the company after investment, even if they recieve no additional personal income. Would you start a high growth company if you knew that if you were to make it to exit, the government could levy a 67% tax? Period. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012 Find Your Perfect Business Buyer Transitioning to next-generation family members • Approach: This sale approach is followed by roughly a third of all small business owners, who work with their attorneys and accountants to determine the often-complex plans for valuation, business transfer and related estate planning issues. -
7 Key Drivers to the Best Investor For Your Startup But I have found that making the right choice at the right time can have a major impact on your long-term valuation, and the decision process is complex. Angels typically have simpler term sheets, don’t squeeze so hard on valuations, and are more realistic on time-frames. The money is the same color in either case. Type of startup. -
Crowdfunding: What to Know Before You Go All In Additionally, the fundamental dynamics of raising money (which involves determining your company’s valuation and thus the percentage of the company are you selling) encourage the savvy entrepreneur to raise money in stages. If you establish a convertible note, for example, many of them have valuation caps. But are you ready? -
Future TechStars, Step Forward 2007 Y Combinator graduate, Dropbox, has reportedly raised $250 million in venture capital at a valuation of more than $4 billion. The Gatekeepers David Tisch (left) runs TechStars's New York City program, which graduates a class of start-ups every nine months. David Cohen co-founded TechStars, in Boulder, Colorado.'> Second Life 2! million. -
Prepare Your Exit Strategy Now – Just in Case Business valuations fluctuate as the capital markets ebb and flow, and it’s important to maximize the value of your life’s work. Here are four things you can do now to increase the value of your business-and give you a smoother transition out when the time is right. We run our businesses to achieve our mission and earn a profit. -
CROWDSPRING BLOG | FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 Twitter Link Roundup #125 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More Billion Valuation, Multiple VCs Say – [link]. Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account , I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! -
ARCTICSTARTUP | FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 It's Expansion Season For Scandinavian Music Streaming Services billion valuation , critics made the point that they have no real exclusivity of their content; any new service can come along and offer a near identical solution. It's expansion season for seemingly every music streaming service from the Nordics and beyond. and Canada availability as well as quietly soft-launching access in Denmark. -
ANGEL INVESTING NEWS | TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 The Berkus Method: Valuing an Early Stage Investment Dave Berkus has just published the most recent version of his method for establishing a pre-money valuation for early stage companies. Valuation David Berkus Method valuationSee his blog at The Berkus Method: Valuing an Early Stage Investment. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 Fear vs. Greed at Facebook When founders delay raising each round, they are typically hoping to achieve certain milestones that will raise the startup’s valuation. million, with a valuation of $10 million. Third round: Raise $7 million, with a valuation of $15 million. million, with a valuation of about $100 million. How did they do this? - Q&A: Valuing a SaaS Business
I’d say that revenue is much better than just growth in free users, but then look at Twitter and Facebook and the like, which got huge valuations first for huge user bases and then only later for revenue models. Valuation isn’t what something is worth, but rather what somebody will pay for it. What do investors like to see? -
ARCTICSTARTUP | MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012 Spotify Seeking $3.5 Billion Valuation billion valuation. The music streaming service has blown up since expanding to the States and partnering with Facebook, but still many are skeptical with the high valuation when comparing to other services. Spotify is reportedly trying to raise funding at a $3.5 Hulu, the U.S. It's been since Skype sold to Microsoft for $8.5 - Don't Let a Divorce Wreck Your Business
Get an outside valuation It’s important to get a realistic present-value evaluation of your business. Using an outside expert’s valuation will also help move things along more quickly in negotiating a divorce settlement. The biggest business risk that everyone overlooks is the one that starts at home. What do you do then? -
BERKONOMICS | SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2012 The Berkus Method: Valuing an Early Stage Investment. Because the Internet has such a long memory and documents from the distant past can be found with ease, a search the “The Berkus Method” today will yield a number of conflicting valuations culled from the many subsequent publications of the method over the ensuing years. Email readers, continue here.] Ignition! Starting up Raising money -
ARCTICSTARTUP | THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 DST To Launch New $1 Billion Tech Fund The new fund, DST Global III, will focus on late-stage global Internet companies with a valuation of at least $500 million. Early investors were offered the Facebook holding at a 12 percent discount to an internal valuation of about $74 billion, as well as a 25 percent reduction in the fund’s management fee. www.ewdn.com. - What’s Driving Big Valuations in E-Commerce?
E-commerce sites are being "pinned" to Pinterest and "tweeted" on Twitter, providing key word-of-mouth marketing to the consumer, by the consumer, that is not only increasing brand equity but also post-money valuations. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012 Western Funds Mangrove And Ventech Take Part In Oktogo.ru’s $10M Round Oktogo’s post-money valuation amounted to $30 million, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported from “persons close to the deal.”. Oktogo.ru, a leading Russian online hotel booking and travel company, officially confirmed yesterday that it has secured a $10 million round of financing. About East-West Digital News. www.ewdn.com. -
Surviving (Your Company's) Near-Death Experience Who does Investor XYZ think she is in proposing that ridiculous valuation? When you are up against a wall, you can still make the best of a tough decision. Here are 4 ways to keep your dream--and your business--alive. It can happen at any stage of the start-up life-cycle. After months or even years of success, you can just hit a wall. -
MARK BIRCH | FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012 Business and the Culture of Money Other than in the tech startup fantasy land where revenue can be put off indefinitely when backed by VC dollars and billion dollar valuations, cash flow positive is not an option. Reading the opinions of the very public Goldman Sachs resignation runs the gamut of responses. Schadenfreude – What is bad for Goldman is good for the rest of us. -
BERKONOMICS | THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2012 Address the five risks to increase your valuation. So it is important for the entrepreneur to identify, address and mitigate each of these in order to increase valuation and decrease the risk of ultimate loss of the business. Reduction or elimination of one or more of these risks increases the valuation of the company and certainly improves its chances of survival and growth. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2012 Fear of Failure & a $200 Million Payoff It was a highly anticipated talk not only due to Pinterest's recently skyrocketing user growth—and its astronomical new $200 million valuation—but also due to the fact Silbermann has been generally silent to the press. million in funding, for a valuation of $200 million. was sort of lost at sea.” How'd that happen? -
YOUNGUPSTARTS | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012 9 Business Acronyms You Need To Know This valuation rubric ignores both cost of capital and degradation of long-term assets, prompting Warren Buffett to mock the metric at a Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in 2002, saying, “People who use EBITDA are either trying to con you or they’re conning themselves.” Business can be a dirty business. NOPAT. QA/QC. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012 5 Tips to Surviving a Start-up When HAPPYFAMILY lost its funding in the recession, we saw other organic food companies holding valuation fire sales. The path of entrepreneurship isnt smooth. Here are five tips to survive the start-up roller coaster. Before HAPPYFAMILY began in 2006 I’d seen the difficulties women experienced finding healthful food for their babies. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012 8 Steps to Acquiring a Business Accredited Valuation Analyst). How to apply Sun Tzu strategies to business acquisition. Just as we look at products or services in unique ways, so too do we consider starting or buying a company in unique and sometimes unbelievable ways. When considering purchasing a company remember Sun Tzu's quote: ".avail Consider an asset purchase. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012 7 Cool Things You've Missed at SXSW Foursquare has more than 15 million users and has raised more than $50 million in venture capital (at a $600 million valuation), but critics argue that revenues are slim (though precise figures have not been released) at the company. Ideas, both fanciful and potentially instructive for your business, flowed over the weekend in Austin. ̶ -
ASK THE VC | FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012 Wenger: A Rational Internet Venture Valuations Bubble It’s titled A Rational Internet Venture Valuations Bubble and is insightful, clever, and though provoking. VC Post of the Day bubble internet usv valuations wengerEasily the best VC post of the week. -
Are You Raising Too Much Money? If you can make progress with a small amount of capital, you are more likely to a) not need more capital, which preserves more ownership for you; or b) if you do need future rounds, investors are more likely to give you a higher valuation. To have such a great concept that investors throw $400 million at you to bring it to life? billion. -
TAFFY WILLIAMS | THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012 We Are Not in Kansas Anymore The 1990s drove thetechnology companies to great valuations and IPOs in this sector were amazing. History hasalways had a major impact on the future and the same is true for the future of startupsand entrepreneurs. Past successes andfailures will always be part of the guiding principles for everyentrepreneur. Dropthe HYPE and SELL REALITY. - I’m getting sick of the bullshit
And, of course, much has been written about rising valuations and the potential risk this poses to particularly early stage companies. I love the start-up world. love working with founders and young companies. love the excitement of working on business ideas that are new and different. love helping entrepreneurs work on their ideas. -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2012 Later-Stage Pivoting: Preemptive Turnaround Management? Giventhe heightened risk profile of the company, raising money at this point willlikely involve a down round in terms of valuation. Whether operational orfinancial in nature, leverage limits a company’s nimbleness and exacerbatesboth the company’s cash needs and the potential decline in valuation during apivot. -
BOTH SIDES OF THE TABLE | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 Always Go Home with the Lady Who Brought you to the Dance The truth is that I wasn’t as valuation sensitive as my original VC partner was and I would have been willing to raise price. I had this ethical dilemma pop up on one of the first deals I even did as a VC. I had been looking around at several deals in late 2008 as the markets were tanking. think you should look at it.” -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 If they come, I will be successful With examples such as Facebook and Twitter, an entrepreneur looking for a category defining business could lean on investor backing and big valuations to scale more quickly and then find the right revenue model later. The answer, for me, is that success is based on valuations and not profits, at least for the time being. -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 Drowning in Liquid Assets: 5 Risks Faced by Over-Funded Startups In this “founders market” investors are eager to deploy capital, and when VC bank accounts start to resemble Scrooge McDuck’s vault, startup valuations and funding rounds rise. 1) Pressure to meet overvaluation High valuations come with pressure to pursue high-value business models. Comments welcome. Mike Maples Jr. Sept 2011 -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 What I’ve learned about the VC / Entrepreneur Relationship at HBS The information asymmetry in negotiating term sheets (with liquidation preferences, anti-dilution and control provisions) and power asymmetry in valuations seemed daunting. decided in this blog to share my key takeaways from those classes and in the process, try to tease out my viewpoint on questions I might one-day face. -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 Is Necessity the Mother of Invention (When Scaling)? by Tiffany Niver In LTV this semester, we have talked a great deal about the difficult decision of when to scale as well as how to do so. One particular view that stuck with me was when the Rent the Runway founders were discussing their own decision to take the company to the next level and said that for them “necessity was the mother of invention.” -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 Chegg is in the process of pivoting—seemingly long after achieving product-market fit in its core business. What are the challenges of managing a later-stage pivot?? Given the heightened risk profile of the company, raising money at this point will likely involve a down round in terms of valuation. Whether operational or financial in nature, leverage limits a company’s nimbleness and exacerbates both the company’s cash needs and the potential decline in valuation during a pivot. -
LAUNCHING TECH VENTURES | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 Next Year’s LTV Course Advice resulting in very low valuations for startups and significant dilutions for founders. by Andrej Rusakov Given the number of international students at HBS, I think the course could benefit from the inclusion of one or two non-U.S. cases. LTV does a great job of preparing U.S.-based Size Matters. Being a Non-U.S. Entrepreneur is Expensive. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 Facebook Ads: Don't Believe the Hype Those investors expect a big profit, and Facebook is gunning for a valuation as high as $100 billion. Why you should think twice about an advertising scheme coming from a company that's about to IPO. funny thing happened to Facebook on the way to its IPO: It decided that mobile ads are a must. Last year it saw revenue of $3.7 Ignore them? -
SOFTWARE BY ROB | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2012 The Inside Story of a Small Startup Acquisition (Part 3) If you can go over the valuation methods each side used, that would be very helpful to know, even if you don’t share the cash figures involved. Photo by psiaki. This is final installment of a 3-part series covering my acquisition of HitTail. Every question below has been asked via email, comment or Twitter over the past four weeks. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2012 4 Things a VC Will Never Tell You The confusion is between pre-money and post-money valuation. Premoney is the presumed valuation of the company before the VC showed up. While the math isn’t that hard and the valuation always gets spelled out in the term sheet, VCs have little incentive to set confused entrepreneurs straight at their initial discussion. -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2012 The Forgotten Founder: YouSendIt’s Khalid Shaikh YouSendIt would get $5 million in Series A funding on an $11 million postmoney valuation. Forced Out YouSendIt's first president, Khalid Shaikh'> He was fired from the company he helped create, YouSendIt. Then the cyberattacks started. It started with a pen, a piece of paper, and an idea. His name is Khalid Shaikh, and he's 34. He was wrong. -
JOEL.IS | SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012 Raising funding as a first-time founder Even if we were able to do so simply based on our idea, experience and passion, you clearly have to sacrifice your valuation and the quality of investors in order to close the funding: The best path to funding for first time founders. Times during a startup at which you can raise funding. Instead, focus completely on traction. -
BERKONOMICS | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012 Consider all resources before seeking investment. Once there is progress in any of these critical areas, raising professional investment is easier and the likelihood of a higher valuation makes for retention of more equity during the first important professional round. Third (if you’re keeping score), it is not wise to dilute the founder’s ownership greatly in the first round of financing. -
VENTUREWOODS | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 Don’t let the ecommerce bust fool you Where as in july-august timeframe, 10 million dollar fundraises were being inflated to 40, and investors seemed to be willing to pay 5-8 times the gross merchandize value as premoney valuations, suddenly the world seemed to turn cold over past three months. What does this mean for entrepreneurs? Whats uniquely Indian about ecommerce? -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 5 Ways To Make Your Company Worth More These five things can dramatically increase your company's valuation, says venture capitalist Jason Trevisan When I was learning to drive I swerved. Left, right, left. My driving instructor told me that if I focused a hundred yards ahead, I’d swerve less. That made no sense to me – what about the yellow lines right here?!? - Let Your Winners Run
They may be just getting going on the valuation creation thing. I met with a group of very experienced and sophisticated investors yesterday who make up the investment committee of a large charitable foundation that is an investor in USV. Then I took questions. And yet the questions they asked me were as good as I ever get. -
ARCTICSTARTUP | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 Rovio Ownership Structure Revealed This would mean that last year when Atomico and Accel Partners invested $42 million into the company, the post money valuation was exactly $210 million. The Finnish Arvopaperi magazine has announced the ownership structure of Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds. Kaj Hed is Niklas' father and Mikael is Niklas' cousin. Update 7.17 -
FRESH INC.: THE STAFF BLOG | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2012 How I Did It Event Recap: How I Turned My Product Into a Service (and vice versa) By transitioning to a "per user" model and away from a "per training program" model, David has been able to create a recurring revenue stream that will increase the valuation of his company by nearly 8 times! Bruce Eckfeldt of Cyrus Innovation and David Harouche of Multimedia Plus share their internal strategy Two Inc. Held at Inc. | |